We race towards the Father.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."

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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Finally I'm back. I've been so busy lately. In fact, I'm so tired I know the wisest decision would be to hit the sack but I...I can't. I'm so disturbed. I have been doing this civics curriculum and it has opened my eyes to the severity of an issue in our country. The issue of religious freedom.

Slowly our country has chipped away religious freedom. It all started with the whole idea of "separation of
church and state" which then lead to redefining of church, redefining of the first amendment, redefining of religion and eventually to freely declaring things unconstitutional.

Our leaders are trying/and have rewritten the history of our country by taking things out of context and twisting the meaning of it. Here is a quote.

William James (1842-1910) The father of modern Psychology "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it."

People are claiming that our founding fathers were not Christians. They were actually atheists at BEST deists. I actually googled it "were our founding fathers Christians?" The articles I found were heart breaking. People have mis-quoted and taken our founding fathers words out of context. Don't ever buy into this lie!!! I am going to paste a few quotes for the great men and founders of this country.

Samuel AdamsFather of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

I . . . recommend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.

Will of Samuel Adams

Patrick HenryGovernor of Virginia, Patriot

This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.

Will of Patrick Henry
(Oh yeah you guys, he was an atheist alllll the waaay.)

John JayFirst Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court

Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by His beloved son. He has been pleased to bless me with excellent parents, with a virtuous wife, and with worthy children. His protection has companied me through many eventful years, faithfully employed in the service of my country; His providence has not only conducted me to this tranquil situation but also given me abundant reason to be contented and thankful. Blessed be His holy name!

Will of John Jay

Benjamin RushSigner of the Declaration of Independence

My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!

Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, George Corner, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1948), p. 166, Travels Through Life, An Account of Sundry Incidents & Events in the Life of Benjamin Rush.

Richard StocktonSigner of the Declaration of Independence

I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian religion, such as the Being of God, the universal defection and depravity of human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior, the necessity of the operations of the Divine Spirit, of Divine Faith, accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the divine Providence, but also . . . that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state; that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially, even in this life; that as Almighty God hath not been pleased in the Holy Scriptures to prescribe any precise mode in which He is to be publicly worshiped, all contention about it generally arises from want of knowledge or want of virtue.

Will of Richard Stockton

John WitherspoonSigner of the Declaration of Independence

I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]. . . . [I]f you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish.

John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. V, pp. 276, 278, The Absolute Necessity of Salvation Through Christ, January 2, 1758.

These men were not deists. Deists believed that God created man and then left them to do what they please and doesn't have any bearing on our lives now. Clearly, by the men's wills alone we can tell that these men were men of faith that believed in a God who is very much alive and active in our lives and in the world. There are many more documents than these by our founding fathers that will only prove this further.

This hasn't even touched on the political problems in the "separation of church and state" lie. But our fathers dogmatically believed that government and religion and morals and Christ were all inseparable.

I am deeply burdened about this you guys. This will not be my last post on this subject. PLEASE give me some feed-back on what y'all think about this subject...or even good links you may find on the subject. I hope to spend more time researching this. I'm sick of just watching it happen. I'm gonna do something.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

My grandpa had been sick for a while - had bone caner and the other day had a heart attack and a stroke. He was doing really bad but the doctors were predicting he still had a little time left... He passed away this morning. Please be in prayer for the whole family. It's been extremely hard.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I don't really have a life right now. I seriously haven't been home at all. And when I am home (e.g. this afternoon) I crash on my bed. It has been hectic. I will post as much as I can though. Keep checking. :)

Friday, September 10, 2010

The way God has provided is incredible! One little idea gave birth to this huge thing! And we would never be able to do this if it wasn't for Angela Hunter. I'm telling you. She has given so much her time and effort into this. I went to a planning meeting about it last night. There were about 9 churches represented in that one room. And others are rallying together to help us. :)))

Basically, Heartbeat Haven, the pregnancy center, is having this huge fundraiser. Their is a band and orchestra coming, and we are going to have a bunch of different booths. A gift shop, resource booth, lots of concessions, a open volleyball tourny, a silent and live auction, corn-hole tourny, cartoon artist, a bouncy castle, a few guest singers and a youth drama presentation- it's goes on. :)(My booth is the gift shop I get to go online and shop! YAY! Lol.) Like a carnival. Except all proceeds will go to Heartbeat.

Please be in prayer that the Lord will bless this. We've already seen His hand in so many ways, but we are hoping that it will be even more evident as this progress. Praise Him! We are hoping and preparing to have a thousand people there.

I will be posting very soon an invitation or flier type thing for this.If you live in the area and want to help with or attend the concert--CONTACT ME!!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

#2-Pray for me. I am trying not to stress out because I'm a little in over my head right now. I have SO MUCH to do. Babysitting, theater, a TON of stuff for the Crisis Pregnancy Center and school work...not to mention piano practice, choir or year book committee. I won't be this busy for very long. Because theater will end soon as will the Pregnancy Center stuff. But these are times when it is tempting not to read the Bible in the morning. Ya know? But now is when I need it most. I need to be in God's Word and resting in Him because I can't do it without Him. So just pray that I would not lose my head and do things to the best of my ability for the Glory of Jesus Christ.

Also the fundraiser for the Pregnancy center is going gooooood. Things are really starting to happen! Praise the LORD!

Monday, September 6, 2010

I was reading about communism on Friday and it brought me to tears of a few times. It is so sad the way things work in a government system like that. The deny everything I believe in, Creation, God, private property, rewarding excellence, immortality...and on. We take for granted all the things we have, and our freedom.

One of the biggest enemies for communists and even socialists are strong families (Correction: I'm now told differently and I could possibly have my info wrong. I want to have it right so I will look into this. Again if you have thoughts on it Id love to hear them.) . People know that they will never be able to tear the USA down until our families deteriorate. The family, church and our free enterprise are the most threatening things to other governments.

More more and more our families are falling apart. And I'm not concerned about this because I'm scared we are going to go all communist or anything (although I wouldn't be surprised) but because strong families and Christian values are what hold together a church, a government and any people in general. I'm concerned because I see a culture that is constantly ripping families apart. The American dream, working mothers, bad values, media that promotes rebelling teens...

I don't have too much to say on this topic because it's just something I have been thinking a little about. But I would love y'alls thoughts and I want to encourage each of you.

Some of us may not have good models. I know that I haven't always had a good family model to look to, but we must try to discover what a strong Biblical family looks like. We can't trust what the world tells us it should look like. Try to find out. Waht role does a father play in a family? And a mother? How should they treat each other? And how involved should parents be in their children and their children's education? How should kids treat their parents and respond to them? And what should their relationship look like? These are good questions for each of us to look into. If you have any thoughts...please post them.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

This morning I was drinking hot tea. My favorite in the morning. Not flavored (flavored is dreadful tasting stuff) and with a little bit of honey. I was sitting on the floor by the table and my tea was on the table at my eye-level. It was right in the sunlight, so I had a perfect view on the steam rising from the mug. It was really pretty.

For some reason it just dawned on me that we are a lot like mugs of hot tea. The tea being our lives, and the aroma and steam being the overflow of our hearts.

I don't know if y'all have ever done this, but I have and still on occasion do. I come to these points in my walk with Christ where I ask myself, "Ashley, are you even a Christian? You don't seem like a Christian. You don't stand out." And maybe I'm not even that extreme. Sometimes it's as simple a question as, "Why am I not sold out for Jesus Christ? Why do I not talk about Him more and witness more?"

This is where I look at the glass of hot tea. What did it take for that tea to become tea? It took water-which had to be boiled, a tea bag-which had to be put in the hot water and steeped, then honey-which had to be stirred in.

I feel like Christians (me chiefly) try to make "Christian actions" come. But really it requires work (Aside from the saving grace of God and the love for Him that He puts inside us.). It requires us to work. A Christian life is an overflow from our hearts. Waht are we resting in, dwelling on, and worshipping? Is it Christ? Is He the one we are pouring time into to get to know? A love for God requires us to study and learn about Him. To be in prayer and fellowship with Him. I believe that the more we learn about God, the more incredible He becomes to us (though not changing who He is), and the more we desire to be with Him and live every moment and every heart-beat of our lives for the glory of our Father.

We drink the cold water and think "Yuck! This is supposed to be hot tea!" We first off need to become Christians. If we aren't Christians then it is impossible for us to bare lasting good character. Secondly, if you are a Christian then I would suggest reading the Bible. Really. Their are some times when I have felt spiritually dead and gone through a low-time in my sanctification. This helps. Read the Bible, a rich book that is going to benefit you amazingly! My recommendation is John (my favorite book of the Bible). It just shows us who He is and is stuffed with the direct words of Jesus. There is nothing that makes us fall more in love with Jesus than a revelation of who He is! The other thing I do sometimes is read through hymns! I'm telling ya, hymns are a wonderful way of seeing truth about who we are in and outside of Christ. Lastly, if you are going through a spiritual low, I would tell someone and have them pray with you.

And I'm not saying that we have to "make" ourselves love the Lord so we will do good deeds and be happy. That's not what I mean. Because if you break it down, God is really the only person who can put a love for Jesus Christ in us. Because "There is none who desire God." But it does help to remind ourselves of who He is and who we are apart from Him. Nothing is a better wake up call then a song or verse about Christ and His everlasting love and how He removes our sins from us..."as far as the east is from the west."

So, take this as a reminder to evaluate yourself. Ask yourself, "Where am I on this spiritual journey? Am I in the family of God? If yes, why am I not serving the Lord whole-heartedly without regrets?"

They are good questions to ask yourself. Is ti possible it's because we don't understand who God is and the magnitude of His character? I think so.

Challenge: Before you get up out of bed every day, try to name some of the attributes of God and meditate on them. We have an incredibly lovable God and if we remember that it will be easier to serve Him with every ounce of energy we possess. Just like if your true love is "everything you have ever wanted" and "loves you with all their heart" we will dwell on that. And the thought of who they are will compel us to get out of bed and serve them. :)